Halfa Hysteria
by princessofwriting
Summary: A psychiatric disorder is any impaired mental function that hinders daily life. One-shot collection, containing stories about Danny having different mental disorders. Second chapter: Dissociative identity disorder.
1. Cotard Delusion

_The __Cotard delusion__, __Cotard's syndrome__, or __Walking Corpse Syndrome __is a rare __mental disorder __in which people hold a __delusional __belief that they are __dead__(either figuratively or literally), do not exist, are __putrefying, or have lost their __blood __or __internal organs._

"Mom… Dad… I have to tell you something," Danny whispered with downcast eyes.

"What is it Danny?" Maddie Fenton asked lovingly.

"Well, um, never mind," he stuttered as he started walking away.

"Come on, Danny-boy, you can tell us anything," the boy's father persuaded.

"Well, you see, I'm kind of a ghost," his voice faded out at the end.

"Danny, you're running your words together."

His normally slow heart quickened its beats as nervousness crept up. "It's not too late to backpedal," he thought. "Oh, I just wanted to say," he started to lie, "that I plan to study more. Yeah, well, I'll get started on that now, so… bye!"

"I thought I heard something about a ghost," inquired his dad.

"Drat! Talk about selective hearing," the teen cringed, "Ghost? No I said… toast. Yeah, I'm studying… toast."

"Well, you nailed that one," he thought bitterly.

"You're studying toast? What about toast?" asked the mother.

"Just… uh," he breathed deeply. "No, you're right. I did say 'ghost.' I said that _I_ am a ghost."

Time seemed to freeze in the room. His parents gawked at him. Not hate, not joy, just surprise lit their faces. After an eternity his mom smiled. "Danny, that's ridiculous. You're obviously not dead."

"But I can prove it," he lifted his arms up to the sky, "I'm going-"

"To the lab," she interrupted.

"What?!" his heart pounded through his chest. He screamed internally, "No! They're going to do experiments and tests. How could they do this to their own son?"

Something cold pressed against his chest, and he screamed. "Calm down, Danny," his dad sighed, "It's just a stethoscope."

The confused boy opened his eyes, which he didn't even realize were closed, and saw that he was already in the lab. "Put these in your ears," his mom ordered.

He did as she said. "Hear that Danny? That's your heart beat. It means you're alive," she spoke to him as if he was five.

He ripped the device off of him. "That doesn't prove anything! I'm still not completely alive! How can I make this any clearer? I died!"

"Stop this nonsense right now! You're not dead!" Maddie was almost on the verge of tears.

"You never listen to me!" he screamed as he ran up to his room.

_People with the Cotard Delusion often become withdrawn from others and they tend to neglect their own hygiene and well-being._

"It would explain so much," Danny overheard his mother saying to his dad the next morning, "He's gotten so distant from us and most of his peers lately."

"I know," his dad replied, "And I always see him skipping meals, running out the door without his backpack or without combing his hair."

"What would explain so much?" the raven-haired teen sneered.

The parents jumped. "Oh… I didn't know you were awake," his mom forced a smile, "We were just on the phone with… someone you're going to visit today. Get ready. We have to be there in half an hour."

"Anything you want to tell me?" he asked, trying to get his parents to explain what they thought was up with him.

"Yes, remember you _have_ to eat breakfast," his dad added.

The teen grimaced, "Got it."

_In the first stage – Germination – patients exhibit __psychotic depression __and __hypochondriacal __symptoms. The second stage – Blooming – is characterized by the full blown development of the syndrome and the delusions of negation. The third stage – Chronic – is characterized by severe delusions and chronic depression._

Danny glowered at the man sitting across from him. "Daniel, just talk to me," the balding psychiatrist begged.

They had been sitting in his office for forty-five minutes and all the doctor got were teen-death-glares. "Why," Danny finally said, "I told my parents, and now they want me sent to a nut-house."

"They don't want you sent to a 'nut house'" he added air-quotes, "they just want you to be helped."

"I don't need any help!"

"I won't know that until you tell me your side of the story,"

"My side of the story? Why don't you tell me what other side of the story there is?"

"Fine. Your parents called me this morning claiming that you thought you were dead. Despite them showing you your pulse, you still did not believe them. Is this right?"

Danny crossed his arms and looked away from the doctor. "Danny, we're suspecting you have Cotard Delusion."

The defiant teen threw his hands up, "Yes, because I know what that means!" he shouted sarcastically.

"It means you are under the belief that you are dead."

Danny scoffed. "This is serious!" the psychiatrist shouted.

"I don't _think_ I'm dead, I _know_ I'm dead," in his anger he wasn't even worried about keeping his secret. "I am a ghost, and I fight ghosts. I almost died, I can go intangible, fly, and turn invisible. All things that ghosts do! Hence," he gestured to himself, "I have to be a ghost."

"Danny, it's impossible."

The fuming teen got up and left the room, but just as the door was almost closed he could hear the doctor say to himself, "Definitely at stage three."

_Cotard's syndrome is encountered primarily in __psychoses __such as __schizophrenia. It can arise in the context of __neurological __or __mental illness __and is particularly associated with __depression __and __derealization. It has even been described in __migraines._

Danny's legs swung from the white-sheeted bed that squeaked whenever he moved. "The room is nothing like what they show in the movies," he thought, "no padded walls, no strait jacket, no screaming, wild-eyed serial killers. It's just a blank-walled building filled with people in faded blue clothes that just don't fit in with social norms… and I'm one of them."

He rubbed his eyes and looked down at his hands, "I could turn them invisible," his thoughts continued, "but even if they did change that could just be the schizophrenia they told me came with this disorder."

He laid back down on to his bed, the springs squeaking in protest the entire way. "It wouldn't even matter any way. If I'm completely alive, I'm stuck here. If I'm part dead, then I get sent off to some sort of test facility."

He closed his eyes and fell into a corpse-like sleep.

**Yea! It's finally summer! I know it's been forever since I updated anything, but I hope to update some of my other stories soon. **

**I don't own Danny Phantom. The quotes are italicized and they come from the Wikipedia page Cotard delusion (and I don't own Wikipedia either) here's the link… ** en.**wiki/ Cotard_delusion (just remove the spaces). By the way, this and all of the following stories are in no way trying to make fun of, or show these disorders in an offensive or disrespectful way. If anyone reading this has or knows anyone with these disorders, I am not writing this to offend anyone.**


	2. Dissociative Identity Disorder

_Dissociative identity disorder__(__DID__), previously known as__multiple personality disorder__(__MPD__),__is a__mental disorder__on the dissociative spectrum characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring__identities__or dissociated__personality__states that alternately control a person's behavior, and is accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness._

The only sound in the room was my pen, scratching against the white sheet of paper. The paper was separated into multiple boxes, each with its own separate categories for the separate alter. The first one being primary.

_The primary identity, which often has the patient's__given name__, tends to be "passive, dependent, guilty and depressed"_

This one was the easiest to fill out. I wrote down Danny Fenton, next to the words "Personality Name:" and continued to fill out the others questions. Almost every time he came to my office, Danny was in his primary personality. He was polite, kind of shy, and basically what I would expect from the symptoms his parent's had told me about. He often dodged my questions until I mentioned the name, "Danny Phantom," he became even more nervous, "Danny, its okay," I had smiled, "Your parents told me… I know you're Danny Phantom."

He had dropped his shoulders and, from that point on, was willing to answer all of my inquiries.

_Each alter might have distinct traits, personal history, and way of thinking about and relating to his or her surroundings. _

The next one was also pretty simple to fill out as well. Danny Phantom was this personality's name. It was slightly odd how Danny's personalities almost always kept the same first name, but it wasn't unheard of. It made my job slightly easier that each alter had knowledge of the other alters. Phantom was what some would consider the protector. Danny Fenton had only casually talked about this other personality in his early visits, but as we met up more often sometimes Danny Phantom would show up as well. Phantom was charming, heroic, and confident, although he did wear the same outfit every time I saw him. I also noticed how drastically different Phantom liked to wear his hair as opposed to the core personality. Phantom identified himself as a superhero, but also thought that his parents wouldn't accept him. I had asked Fenton once, "With these people that you identify yourself with, can you name who came first."

"Of course," he replied, "Danny Phantom."

"And did anything traumatic happen right before Phantom came to be?"

"Yeah, I was in a lab accident. I got electrocuted by some of my parent's equipment."

It was then that I realized why Phantom thought his parent's wouldn't accept him.

_An alter might even be of a different gender, have his or her own name, and have distinct mannerisms or preferences._

Danielle or Dani was the next personality. This one was a bit complicated. She too had a Phantom counterpart which was similar to Danny Phantom in heroic traits. I had never met this personality and I had only ever heard of her by accident. The receptionist had accidentally said "Danielle Fenton" when Danny was called into my office and Danny had laughed and said, "Actually that's my cousin."

"Oh, are you close?" I asked.

He went on to describe her, but due to the oddity of the story I had to ask his parents about the girl. To my surprise, they said that they had never heard of her. From what I got from Danny, she was a 12 year old girl, who was actually not his cousin, but a clone. She was apparently very street-smart, but also had trouble trusting people. It was not uncommon for people to have personalities of a different gender or age, and it was almost odd how strikingly similar most of Danny's alters are.

_Little is known about prognosis of untreated DID.__It rarely, if ever, goes away without treatment__but symptoms may resolve from time to time__or wax and wane spontaneously_

I smiled as I filled out the next one, Fun Danny, he was called. I had met this personality once a while back, and I have begun to assume that this alter has faded away. He was lazy, grumpy, foolish, and overall the stereotypical teenage boy. He dressed in more of a grunge-style than the other alters, and was also unfocused throughout the entire time. Preferring, instead to mess with his phone or handheld gaming device.

_A person with DID, the most severe type of dissociative disorder, has two or more different personality states—sometimes referred to as "alters" (short for alternate personality states)—each of whom takes control over the person's behavior at some time_

And then there was the complete opposite, Super Danny. Super Danny was different from Danny Phantom in the fact that he acted less like a teenage boy. He was incredible responsible, and didn't care about any social life. As Fun Danny had put it, "An annoying, self-righteous, stick-in-the-mud." I had never actually met Super Danny, but I managed to get these bits of information from Fun Danny, Phantom, and Fenton.

_with other personalities or "alters" being more active, aggressive or hostile, and often containing more complete memories. Most identities are of ordinary people, though fictional, mythical, celebrity and animal alters have also been reported._

This last one was the most difficult to fill out. I could never get Danny to really talk about this alter, and he would often dodge all of my questions after I mentioned him. I had first heard about this alter when I asked, "Is there any alter you identify yourself with that you don't like… maybe one you prefer to keep hidden."

The kid dropped his head and nodded. "What's its name?" I asked.

"I… I'd rather not say."

I had to let the subject go, but I had written down the little exchange on the top of a post-it-note. It was mistakenly brought up again a couple of weeks later. He had walked in with a bright smile on his face. I was happy to see one of my patients in such a bright mood, and our talks had long since been a regular thing, "How are you today, Dan?" I asked.

His smile instantly fell and he froze with wide eyes. "Please don't call me that."

I could hardly get anymore words out of him for the entire session. I had painstakingly drawn out a few facts, but not enough to know exactly why Danny was so afraid of him.

_General treatment guidelines exist that suggest a phased, eclectic approach with more concrete guidance and agreement on early stages but no systematic,__empirically-supported__approach exists and later stages of treatment are not well described and have no consensus._

I heard a small knock on the door and I glanced over my paperwork one last time.

Primary Identity: Daniel (Danny) Fenton

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Traits: Polite, shy, passive. More confident and friendly as you get to know him. Likes hanging out with friends. Was in a lab accident before symptoms developed.

Identity: Danny Phantom

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Traits: Protector, heroic, self-assured. Believes that he is a super-hero. Fears his parents won't accept him.

Identity: Danielle (Dani) Fenton/Phantom

Gender: Female

Age: 12

Traits: Heroic, street-smart, friendly, but untrusting.

Identity: Fun Danny

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Traits: Lazy and unfocused, possibly faded.

Identity: Super Danny

Gender: Male

Age: 14

Traits: Responsible, overconfident.

Identity: Dark Dan

Gender: Male

Age: ?

Traits: Evil

Danny Fenton walked in and smiled, "Hi," he said while sitting down on the large purple couch adjacent to me. I handed him the clipboard with all that I had just written down spelled neatly across the first page. "How does it look?" I asked.

He laughed, "Sure Doc," he grinned, "It looks fine."

**Once again, I am not trying to make light of this disorder or insult anybody who has it. I do not have a degree in psychology so I apologize for any mistakes. I am not trying to offend anyone, I am simply writing this because I thought it would be interesting and it helps me learn more, because these take a lot of research. Quotes are in italics and come from wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder and neurological_ **


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